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Spirit  GomjTTunion: 

An  immovable  fact  in  the  internal 
conaciousneas  and  external  history 

of  man « « 


by 

J.  B.  Ferguson « 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


SPIRIT  COMMUNION: 


AN  IMMOVABLE  FACT 


IM   THK 


INTERNAL  CONSCIOUSNESS 


AND 


lEXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  MAN, 


BEING  AN  ADDKESS, 


'^  DELIVERED  IN  TIIE  REGULAR  COURSE  OF  TUBLIC  MINISTRATION,  IN 

NASHVILLE,  TENN.,  APIUL  16,  1855. 


BY  J.  B.  FEROUSON 


POBLIsnKD  AKD  CIIICCIATED  GRATUITOUSLY  BY  M.  W.  WKTMOKE. 


NASHVILLE: 

M'KENNIE  &  BROWN,  PRIXTKRS— TRUE  WHIG  OFFICE. 

1855. 


>• 

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SPIRIT  COMMUNION. 


PRAYER. 

Ai.L-irELPixG  SpipvIt,  aid  me  to  think  clearly  and  speak 
impressively  to  these,  Thy  creatures.     Our  humble  power 
of  Thought,  with  its  immortal  instincts,  we  would  now  turn 
to  Thee.     Our  knowledge  is  very  limited;   our  judgment 
imperfect;   our  love  grows  cold,  and  our  hearts  harden  in 
5    selhshness ;  while  our  feet  often  wander  in  the  thorny  paths 
oQ    of  wrong-doing  and  sorrow.     Give  us  the  wings  of  faith  and 
pure  desire,  that  we  may,  for  this  hour  at  least,  fly  away 
from  the  perplexities  of  weak  and  misguided  judgment;  the 
"in    '^Tpression  of  care,  and  the  heart-stings  of  unworthy  afiec- 
^    tions  and  fears.     How  wide,  O,  God  !  the  gulf  between  the 
clear  skies  of  Thy  unfaili)ig  love,  and  the  low,  dark,  clouds 
of  our  ignorance,  and  the  benighted  places  of  our  gross 
,     indulgences  !     But  Thou  dost  pity  and  help  us,  as  our  souls 
5    bear  testimony  ever}'-  day.     Thy  beneficent  smile,  spread 
^     o'er  the  face  of   Nature,  gives  rays  of  light  to  our  dark 
2     pathway ;  and  the  inspirations  of  Thy  good  Spirit  warm  our 
uj     liearts  to  love  and  adoration.     Unreservedly  would  we  com- 
-\     mit  ourselves  and   our  interests   to  Thy  guiding  wisdom, 
<     hopefully  trusting  that  we  shall  be  taught  that  truth  which 
shall  never  die ;   gain  that  treasure  which  shall  never  cor- 
rupt; secure  that  faith  that  shall  always  deliver;  and  that 
delight,  angelic,  that  shall  illumine  the  gateway  of  death 
with  hope  eternal !    O,  lit  us  for  the  heavenly  light  and  life. 
May  we  feel  the  impulses  of  immortal  souls,  and  anticipate, 
with  satisfying  foretastes,  the  -welcome  and  bliss  of  our  future 


SPIRIT    COMMUNION 


homes.  Bless  us  witli  desire  and  power  to  bless  others,  in 
both  word  and  deed.  May  we  feel  poor  with  Thy  poor, 
lonely  with  thy  orphans,  sorrowful  with  Thy  cast  down  and 
disconsolate  ones,  that  we  may  be  elevated  together.  May 
sickness,  distress  and  misery  find  ns  ever  i;eady  to  minister, 
both  with  our  sympathy  and  substance.  May  our  lives  be 
more  consistent  than  our  words  can  possibly  be,  and  become 
sermons  of  practical  devotion  to  duty  and  praise.  And  in 
the  inner  depths  of  our  souls,  may  we  feel  Thy  peace,  so 
pure,  so  full,  that  we  may  triumphantly  pass,  amid  all  con- 
flict, to  that  glorious  Heaven  to  which  Thou  hast  lifted  our 
purest  desires  and  holiest  anticipations.  And  to  Thee,  ever- 
blessed  Father,  be  the  glory  eternal — Amen. 


A  D  D  E  E  S  S . 

And  now,  having  prayed,  we  have  scarcely  faith  enough 
in  ourselves,  our  fellows,  or  in  our  God,  to  proceed.  The 
chilly  influences  of  the  cold  and  selfish  controversies  of  the 
religious  leaders  of  the  people,  incapacitate  us  to  speak  with 
living  power,  and  to  hear  with  meditative  and.  inspiring 
interest.  They  have  suppressed  Thought,  and  the  suppress- 
ion of  Tliought  is  the  most  deadly  infidelity  possible  to  the 
human  mind  ;  it  is  the  heresy  of  heresies,  and  the  atheism 
of  the  church.  By  Thought  we  are  elevated  above  the 
brute ;  take  our  appointed  rank  in  the  scale  of  accountable 
being  ;  gain  the  agencies  by  which  to  purif}'-  our  grossness 
and  ally  ourselves  to  all  Christ-like  intelligences  and  God- 
like purposes.  It  is  the  talisman  of  power  to  the  human 
soul,  and  only  in  its  free  exercise  can  it  be  loving  and  help- 
ful amid  the  trials  of  a  frail  humanity.  It  alone  can  make 
Truth  our  own  conviction,  duty  our  personal  choice,  holiness 
and  Heaven  our  desire  and  delight;  for  it  is  the  medium 
alike  for  all  earthly  and  heavenly  influences  upon  rational 
intelligences  ;  for  all  earthly,  as  the  negative  basis  upon 
which,  and  in  which,  the  pure  positive  power  of  God  may 
operate   to  secure  our  refinement   and  progress,  and    the 


8  P  I  R  I  T    C  0  M  SI  U  N  I  O  N  .  5 


iiJvancement  of  tlie  world.  Let  us  charitably  hear,  then, 
that  we  may  judge  justly  and  act  considerately  toward 
all  the  iniluences  and  persons  with  which  we  have  our  dis- 
cipline. 

There  is  a  very  current,  and,  in  many  circles  of  society,  a 
somewhat  popular  idea,  that  all  light  upon  man's  spiritual 
•  .r  immortal  relations,  was  made  to  shine  in  the  past  ages  of 
liumau  history,  and  that  it  is  alike  irreverent  and  preposter- 
ous to  seek  further  knowledge  or  confirmation  in  the  higher 
developments  of  mind  and  triumphs  of  knowledge,  that 
have  marked  succeeding,  and  characterize  the  present  geue- 
i-ations.  We  esteem  this  idea  as  the  oflspring  of  a  false,  not 
to  say  idolatrous  reverence  of  the  past,  tending  to  enslave 
and  degrade  human  nature,  and  corrupt  the  native  birth- 
right and  holiest  privilege  of  the  soul:  the  birth-right  of 
'Hiought,  and  the  privilege  of  forming  our  convictions 
according  to  the  light  we  enjoy  from  the  ever-unfolding  and 
eternal  sources  of  wisdom  and  help  in  God.  Tlie  idea  is 
predicated  upon  an  absurdity.  It  is,  that  the  nature  of  God 
i^  changeable.  For,  if  God  be  the  same,  and  his  purposes 
without  variation,  then  it  cannot  be  possible  that  one  mind 
in  one  age  can  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of  Truth,  and  an- 
other mind  be  denied  the  privilege.  In  other  words :  what 
is  possible  to  one  mind,  under  the  same  conditions,  is  possi- 
ble to  all.  If,  therefore,  God  is  the  same,  and  the  human 
mind  the  same,  no  discovery  of  Truth  possible  to  one  age, 
can  be  rendered  impossible  to  another.  Every  attainment, 
therefore,  gained  by  Prophet  or  Philosopher,  is  but  a  reve- 
liition  of  a  possibility  to  any  mind  ecpially  true  to  its  nature 
and  privileges.  Beside,  the  opposite  idea  would  make  God 
a  respecter  of  persons  and  peoples,  and  thus  give  foundation 
!l/r  all  the  partial,  passionate  and  revengeful  character 
ascribed  to  him  by  the  childish  systems  of  lleathenism,  and 
the  sectarian  controversies  and  creeds  of  Christendom,  which 
the  enlightened  votaries  of  each  can  never  believe  to  be  true, 
HTid  which  the  enslaved  receive  more  with  fear,  than  either 
hope  or  faith. 

Again  :  The  idea  that  all  religious  truth  is  confined  to  a 
past  age,  and  that  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  memorize  and 


SPIRIT    COMMUNION 


interpret,  (or,  if  I  might  speak  from  tlie  practical  effects  of 
that  interpretation,  I  would  say,)  or  quarrel  over  tliat  truth 
and  its  application,  is  founded  upon  a  mistaken  view  of  Truth 
itself.  It  supposes  that  Truth  can  be  mapped  and  bounded, 
can  be  limited  if  not  exhausted.  It  is  the  common  mistake 
in  childish  life,  when  we  imagine  our  home  the  universe,  our 
parents  and  friends  the  greatest  of  mankind,  and  our  inter- 
ests and  pleasures  the  full  measure  of  the  purposes  of  God. 
It  is  pardonable  in  a  child — is  evidently  necessary  for  his 
dangerous  and  disciplinary  stages  of  progress  ;  but  here,  as 
in  all  things,  we  should  seek  a  state  of  Thought  and  Piety 
in  which  to  dispense  with  childish  things.  Truth  never  was 
exhausted — never  was  made  less.  The  spiritual  relationships 
of  man  are  infinite,  because  they  connect  us  with  God,  who 
is  connected  with  all.  "VVe  cannot  embrace  the  idea  of  one 
God,  without  being  compelled  to  this  thought ;  and  hence, 
the  knowledge  of  God  is  the  eternal  life  of  the  soul,  for  it 
connects  it  with  all  life,  and  its  progress  consists  in  finding, 
using  and  enjoying  that  connection.  Whoever  made  a  truth 
less  by  stating  it,  or  applying  it?  The  estimate  of  it  may 
have  been  made  less,  as  in  the  vain  attempts  to  circumscribe 
all  truth  in  a  creed,  but  the  exhaustless  fountain  flows  on, 
and  as  it  flows  forever  will  flow  on ;  for  its  source  is  in  God, 
the  All  of  Truth,  to  whom  we  are  connected  as  we  are  assimi- 
lated more  and  more  to  His  nature  and  perfections.  "We 
may  discover  truth,  but  we  cannot  create  it.  We  may  apply 
it  in  exquisite  and  beautiful  skill ;  but  we  can  never  exhaust 
it.  And  every  man  being  born  with  an  immortal  nature  as 
a  semblance  of  his  God,  is  born  with  immortal  instincts  for 
God's  truth  ;  and  only  as  he  sees  and  uses  it  for  himself,  is 
he  happy,  hopeful,  or  man-UJce.  He,  for  himself,  and  not 
for  another,  has  his  God  to  find  and  adore ;  the  Christ-like 
spirit,  or  anointing  of  that  God  to  enjoy  and  increase,  and 
the  endless  chain  that  binds  him  to  the  spiritual  universe,  to 
discover  and  brighten.  This  I  know,  though  once  I  knew  it 
not ;  but  the  knowledge  I  cannot  directly  impart,  for  no  one 
could  impart  it  to  me,  as  my  experience,  however  blissful  it 
may  have  been,  as  theirs ;  but  I  can  state  it,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  ancient  Prophets  and  Apostles,  or  after  what  I  am 


SPIRIT    COMMUNION 


permitted  to  call  my  own.  Ilere  is  the  place  for  the  testi- 
mony of  experience,  and  this  can  never  be  surrendered. 
We  may  become  false  to  it,  for  Judas  betrayed  his  Christ 
when  he  betrayed  his  brother ;  and  every  religious  persecu- 
tor does  the  same;  whether  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
depends  upon  his  degree  of  opened  soul,  or  his  attainment 
in  the  stature  of  Truth.  Truth  is  immortal — not  as  a  tijcure 
of  speech,  a  beauty  of  poetry — but  in  its  nature  immortal. 
It  knows  no  diminution,  no  corruption,  no  perversion,  no 
death.  We  may  diminish  ourselves  in  its  knowledore  and 
power ;  we  may  pervert  and  enslave  our  faculties  to  dis- 
cover, receive  and  enjoy  truth  ;  we  may  corrupt  our  minds 
and  hearts  so  that  they  almost,  or  quite  cease  to  reflect  it. 
In  a"  word,  we  may  degenerate  to  the  dull,  sensual  plane  of 
bruteism,  and  seek  to  hallow  it  by  the  holy  name  of  Christ 
and  God,  or  Humanity  and  Heaven.  But  God  and  Truth 
remain  the  same,  and  we  never  come  to  enjoy  either  until 
we  become  true  to  ourselves  and  the  Truth-like,  God-like 
impress  of  Divinity  we  bear.  Sacred  and  inviolate,  like  the 
pure  sky  above  us,  it  lives ;  and  though  clouds  may  hide  it 
from  our  eyes  it  hides  it  not  from  itself  As  men  become 
more  true  to  themselves,  to  the  nature  they  inherit,  to  the 
universe  of  which  they  form  a  part,  they  ascend  in  harmony 
with  its  eternal  laws,  and  behold  what  men  less  true,  idola- 
trously  worship,  or  distastefully  blaspheme,  or  fight  over. 

Truth  is  the  same  in  nature,  though  infinite  in  the  degree 
of  its  reflections.  Mathematics  is  the  same  in  its  nature, 
but  how  wide  the  degrees  of  its  reflections  in  the  negro,  who 
cannot  tell  the  number  of  his  fingers,  and  La  Place,  who 
calculates  the  lines  of  the  stars ;  and,  yet,  who  would  com- 
pare either  to  the  mathematics  of  God  ?  Music  is  the  same 
in  the  lonely  murmuring  of  the  forest  brook  and  in  the  an- 
them of  Bethoven  ;  yet,  who  could  ever  rationally  think  of 
music  as  exhausted  in  its  sweet  melodies  and  enrapturing 
harmony.  Poetry  is  the  same  in  the  rude  ballad  of  the 
Druid  bard  and  the  lofty  conceptions  that  flow  through 
Harris ;  but  eternity  will  never  exhaust  its  power  to  move 
and  elevate.  Philosophy  is  the  same  in  the  Mexican,  who 
lubricates  the  wheels  of  his  cart  from  the  bark  of  the  elm. 


SPIRIT    COMMUNION. 


and  in  the  sublime  reasoning  of  Davis ;  but  its  field  is  the 
universe,  and  its  lessons  are  for  all  time.  So,  Jesus,  and 
every  spiritually  illuminated  soul,  declares  truth,  but  does 
not  exhaust  it — performs  many  wonderful  and  loving  works, 
but  ever  promises,  in  that  very  performance,  that  his  disci- 
ples shall  do  greater. 

We  reverence  the  past,  then,  because  it  reveals  the  links 
in  the  chain  of  an  eternal  Providence;  but  we  use  the  pres- 
ent as  our  day,  that  the  chain  be  neither  buried  nor  broken; 
for  we  too,  live,  move  and  have  our  being  in  God,  as  well  as 
they  who  have  passed  through  the  earthly  life,  and  our  day 
will  answer  for  us  as  well  as  it  will  for  them,  according  to 
our  fidelity  and  devotion. 

Now,  these  truths  are  so  simple,  so  self-evident,  that  we 
wonder  that  they  should  ever  be  questioned  ;  but  we  do  not 
wonder  at  the  terrible  results  that  inevitably  follow  wher- 
ever they  are  disregarded.  Dark  and  fearful  despotism  in 
government ;  furious  and  bitter  scorning  and  persecution  in 
churches ;  frowning  and  hideous  superstitions  in  religion : 
families  separated  ;  knowledge  despised ;  science  neglected, 
and  the  earth  mourning  beneath  the  inhabitants  thereof, 
who  deliver  the  assassin  and  crucify  the  Saviour,  are  the 
dread  issues  of  a  prostration  of  reason,  and  a  disregard  of 
the  eternal  privileges  it  secures.  But,  perhaps,  it  would  be 
well  to  note  some  of  the  common  appeals  by  which  it  is 
justified. 

Because  the  Bible  contains  many  divine  disclosures,  and 
is  made  the  foundation  of  much  that  is  good  and  indis- 
pensable in  human  society,  therefore,  a  very  plausible  appeal 
is  made  to  popular  prejudice  in  opposition  to  every  disclo- 
sure upon  man's  moral  and  spiritual  relations,  as  if  it  would 
subvert  the  morality  and  religion  man  instinctively  regards. 
But  this  appeal  presumes  upon  an  unwarrantable  ignorance, 
and  thus  shows  itself  more  fatal  to  the  good  order  of  society 
and  the  elevation  of  man,  than  any  perversion  of  a  real 
privilege  can  possibly  be.  We  have  need  only  to  ask :  Has 
not  every  discovery  in  science  and  skill  in  the  arts  been  con- 
demned by  the  very  men  who  were  enjoying  their  advanta- 
ges, under  the  influence  of  the  blind  bigotry  and  slavish 


s  I'  I  R  I  T    c  o  M  ar  U  N  I  O  N  .  U 


reverence  of  those  who  were  the  professed  and  consecrated 
expounders  of  Bibles  and  Records?  Is  tlie  Bible,  then, 
opposed  to  knowledge  ?  Does  it  fear  the  light  ?  Can  a 
communication  from  God  be  endangered  by  spreading  it 
before  the  world?  Is  man  capable  of  judging  for  himself^ 
and  if  not,  who  are  they  who  presume  to  judge  for  him^ 
What  lineage  do  they  bear  tluit  gives  the  right  to  lord  it 
over  the  consciences  of  their  fellows?  Are  they  not  men  of 
like  passions  and  frailties  with  their  kind  ?  Let  their  his- 
tory and  present  position  answer. 

But,  iu  answering  this  last  question,  we  probe  this  diffi- 
culty to  its  core.  We  extend  the  question,  and  ask,  from 
whence  came  this  Biblical  record  ?  What  favored  ages  in 
human  history  does  it  cover?  AVhat  are  the  sublime  and 
heavenly  practices  that  characterized  its  heroes?  Were 
they  men  or  gods?  Or,  if  more  under  the  influence  of  Truth 
than  others,  was  it  not  because  they  were  more  true? — more 
true  to  themselves  and  their  God? — that  is,  more  true  to  the 
same  minds  we  bear,  the  same  miiverse  we  live  in,  the  same 
God  over  and  in  us  all. 

Let  us  open  the  Book  and  see,  for  we  have  studied  it  from 
(nir  childhood.  It  tells  us  that  man  was  created  perfect ; 
that  lie  fell,  and  the  vast  majority  of  its  devotees  say  so  fell 
as  to  involve  himself  and  all  his  descendants  in  a  depravity 
of  nature  that  exposes  him  to  all  the  ills  of  the  present  life, 
and  to  the  pains  of  endless  torture  in  the  life  to  come. 
Kere,  we  ask,  can  nature  be  depraved  ?  Character  may  be, 
but  how  can  God's  own  nature,  which  man  is  represented 
to  have  received  by  Divine  inbreathing,  be  depraved?  Can 
you  corrupt  the  Deity  ?  This  is  like  corrupting  or  exhaust- 
ing Truth?  But  farther:  the  world  degenerates;  God  grieves 
that  he  created  it ;  destroys  it  with  a  flood,  only  to  make  its 
condition  hopelessly  worse  in  the  hell  beyond,  and  saves  one 
man  and  his  family.  We  would  expect  that  this  man  would 
be  pure,  and  better  fulfill  the  ends  of  creation,  that  seem, 
upon  a  first  experiment,  to  have  failed.  But  what  does  th(? 
sequel  prove?  He  worships,  it  is  true ;  but  lies  down  in 
drunkenness  and  obscenity,  and  rises  up  to  curse  the  child 
that  laughs  at  his  folly  ! 


10  SPIEIT    COMMUNION. 

But  you  will  tell  me  that  lie  is  not  a  good  example  ?  I 
answer,  is  Abraham,  denying  the  wife  of  his  bosom,  and 
repeating  the  denial?  Is  Jacob,  wrenching  the  paternal 
blessing  from  a  tender  and  starving  brother  by  deceiving  a 
blind  father?  Are  Judah  and  his  brethren,  in  their  envy  of 
Joseph  and  his  sale  to  the  traffickers  in  human  flesh  of  those 
days  ? 

Or,  is  Moses  the  object  of  your  admiration;  for  he,  as  the 
others,  is  worthy  on  many  accounts.  Behold  him,  like  a 
thief  in  the  night,  casting  his  eyes  before  and  behind,  and 
then  slaying  the  Egyptian.  Perliaps  David,  whom  the 
record  says,  "was  a  man  after  God's  own  heart,"  is  free 
from  the  mortal  taint.  Read  the  109th  Psalm,  and  answer 
to  your  own  consciences  and  to  your  God.  He  prays  that 
his  enemy  may  be  condemned  when  judged;  that  the 
iniquity  of  his  father  and  the  sin  of  his  mother  may  not  be 
forgotten  ;  that  his  innocent  wife  may  be  a  widow,  and  his 
unoffending  children  beggars ;  that  an  executioner  may 
catch  his  goods ;  that  his  posterity  may  be  blotted  out,  and 
that  God  may  never  forgive  him !  ISTow  contrast  this  with 
a  descendant  of  his,  who  lived  a  God  among  such  men, 
who,  in  the  agonies  of  a  shameless  crucifixion,  prays  to  hu 
God  to  forgive  the  vilest  of  enemies ;  for,  says  he,  "  they 
know  not  what  they  do."  "Would  Noah,  or  Abraham,  or 
Moses,  or  David,  have  desired  their  enemies  with  them  in 
Paradise,  as  Jesus  promised  one  of  the  vilest  of  mankind  % 

But  why  refer  to  these  facts  ?  It  is  to  show  that  the  mor- 
tal frailty  to  which  you  and  your  kind  are  subject,  belonged 
to  the  men  who  wrote,  and  who  are  biographically  sketched 
in  your  Bible.  Divine  truth  is  in  it,  we  do  not  deny,  but 
rejoice  to  believe  and  prove  upon  all  fitting  occasions.  But 
human  error  is  equally  manifest,  and  its  shadow  is  cast  in 
the  selfishness,  bigotry,  and  cruelty  of  the  present  age.  The 
Bible  Patriarchs,  Prophets  and  Apostles,  delivered  truths 
in  exact  proportion  as  they  were  true.  You  do  the  same. 
Where  they  failed,  we  should  not  fail ;  where  the}'-  attained 
to  spiritual  knowledge,  peace  and  joy,  we  may  attain,  and 
glorify  the  same  exhaustless  Providence  that  made  John 
the  Baptist  superior  to  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  and  which, 


SPIRIT    COMMUNION.  11 

through  Jesus,  in  word  mid  deed,  reveals  the  truth,  "  that 
the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  may  he  greater  than 
John." 

Are  we  true  to  our  nature,  discipline,  opportunities  and 
privileges?  If  so,  what  is  our  hope?  Is  it  built  upon  a 
record  that  covers  a  period  of  some  five  thousand  years, 
and  fragmentary  at  that — that  has  been  handed  down  from 
generation  to  generation  without  the  facilities  for  printing 
and  preserving  that  you  possess — that  has  been  collected, 
altered,  added  to  and  subtracted  from,  according  as  ambi- 
tious monarchs  and  corrupted  priesthoods  have  felt  inclined 
or  believed  would  best  subserve  their  interests  ? — a  record 
appealed  to,  to  substantiate  the  claims  of  every  conflicting 
sect,  from  the  Romanist  to  the  Mormon  ?  Or  do  you  build 
your  hopes  upon  the  cultivation  of  your  own  nature  by  its 
aid  and  all  other  aid ;  and  if  so,  do  you  not  commune  with 
the  immortal  friends  that  have  gone  before,  as  did  Abra- 
ham, Moses,  John,  and  all  the  prophets,  whose  authority 
you  have  so  blindly  reverenced  ?  This  is  the  question.  If 
with  all  their  faults  and  frailties  they  communed  with  the 
spiritual  world,  how  claim  you  to  be  their  disciples,  while  I 
would  hope,  with  less  impurity,  you  know  not  the  end  of 
your  earthly  pilgrimage,  and  deny  the  possibility  of  know- 
in  o;?  If  God  is  the  same — if  the  human  mind  is  the  same — 
if  the  ancients,  who,  with  their  fjiults  recorded,  enjoyed  this 
privilege,  why  do  you  not  enjoy  it? 

I  testify,  then,  in  common  with  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  this  age,  that  the  privilege  still  exists,  and  its  advantages, 
like  the  advantages  of  every  privilege  in  nature,  dei^ends 
upon  our  faithfulness  to  ourselves,  to  our  nature  and  to  God. 
Its  purposes  and  ends  need  not  be  stated,  for  they  would  not 
be  believed,  except  as  we  come  to  appreciate  and  enjoy  this 
natural  birth-right  and  indestructible  prerogative  of  every 
human  being. 

I'.ut,  am  I  told  we  have  never  seen  ministering  spirits, 
and  our  ears  are  never  saluted  by  their  heavenly  voices?  1 
answer :  Have  you  ever  seen  God,  or  Christ,  or  the  Pro- 
phets? And  is  sight  the  measure  of  human  knowledge  and 
blisb  ?     Do  you  deny  the  existence  of  an  ocean,  because  you 


12  SPIRIT    COMMUNION. 


cannot  see  it?  Does  the  reality  of  blindness,  or  limited 
vision,  destroy  tL.e  liglit  of  heaven  and  the  glory  of  God  ? 
And  so  every  objection  you  urge — and  you  ought  to  urge 
them  to  yourselves,  at  least — will  but  reveal  the  solemnity 
and  power  of  that  greatest  of  all  truths,  that  in  the  exact 
proportion  in  which  we  are  faithful  to  ourselves  and  the 
god-like  faculties  we  possess,  God,  and  Heaven,  and  heav- 
enly influences  find  tlieir  reflection  in  us. 

But  some  will  say  within  themselves,  would  that  we  could 
believe  Spiritual  Communion  possible  to  us  as  well  as  to  the 
ancients.  It  would  give  new  hope,  new  life  and  vigor  to 
our  souls ;  it  would  span  with  new  prospects,  the  troubled 
ocean  of  our  thought,  and  reveal  the  truly  sublime  purj^oses 
of  our  being  and  earthly  discipline  ;  and  we,  too,  would 
come  to  feel  those  sacred  afiinities  that  unite  all  in  one  kin- 
dred in  God.  It  appears  as  an  indispensable  nutriment  to 
our  souls,  and  yet  overburdens  our  thought.  We  should  no 
longer  live  in  doubt,  nor  die  in  fear,  but  stand  as  men  in 
God,  to  relieve,  and  not  to  increase  the  misfortunes  of  our 
kind.  Tlie  roots  of  our  thought  would  go  down  beneath 
encumbering  forms  that  oppress  the  soul,  and  with  new 
prospects  we  could  seek  the  elevation  of  all  our  race.  This 
power,  we  admit,  belonged  to  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  but 
did  it  not  die  with  them  ? 

We  would  say,  in  reply :  no  truth  can  die  ;  no  true  privi- 
lege can  be  finally  lost.  This  privilege  did  belong  to  Christ 
and  the  Apostles,  for  they  lived  true  to  the  Divinity  within 
them,  and  the  powers  it  granted  to  that  truthfulness.  They 
lived  near  the  departed,  conversed  with  them  in  their  holi- 
est hours,  and  by  their  aid  healed  the  sick  and  comforted 
the  distressed.  Why,  then,  if  we  were  equally  true,  equally 
hopeful,  equally  pure',  equally  reliant  upon  God  in  all,  could 
we  not  come  as  near  our  departed?  Our  grosser  nature 
alone,  hinders  our  approach.  All  that  can  be  necessary  for 
the  benefit  of  man  is  within  our  grasp ;  but  skepticism, 
intolerance,  priestly  rule,  and  wrong  in  ourselves,  with  over- 
whelming force,  condemn  us  to  that  devotion  to  self  that 
absorbs  the  life  of  the  dead  and  the  purity  of  the  living,  to 
mourn  over  wrecked   hopes  and  prostrated  powers.     We 


8PIEIT    COMMUNION.  13 


luive  seen  tlie  sick  bealed,  the  lame  walk,  and  the  decrepit 
strengthened,  wrongs  corrected,  errors  overcome,  servitude 
supplanted  by  freedom,  and  doubt  removed,  by  positive 
intercourse  with  the  spirits  of  those  who  were  bone  of  our 
bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh ;  and  all  in  witness  to  the  truth 
of  the  light  now  breaking  everywhere  upon  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  in  promise  of  the  glory  of  God  to  cover  the 
earth  with  a  new-born  race,  to  be  immersed  in  a  spirit  of 
truth  and  love  that  will  sweeten  tlie  souls  of  all,  wipe  the 
tear  of  sorrow,  and  sow  the  seed  of  hope  in  the  most  deso- 
late hearts.  And  we  know  that  if  our  minds  could  be  en- 
tirely harmonious  with  the  benevolent  purposes  of  our  God, 
agencies  exist  to  carry  forward  this  work  to  an  extent  and 
to  ends  that  never  entered  into  the  imagination  of  the  most 
hopeful. 

But,  in  the  face  of  these  undeniable  facts,  what  are  we 
told ;  how  are  we  met  ?  "  K  the  good  spirits  come  to 
administer  to  our  good,  may  not  the  evil  come  to  tempt  us 
and  lead  us  astray?"  I  ask  this  objector,  where  is  your 
faith  in  God?  He  never  permitted  this ;  by  which  I  mean, 
he  so  constructed  the  mind,  and  the  universe  of  visible  and 
invisible  ministrations  to  its  development  and  power,  that 
like  will  seek  like,  "with  unerring  aim."  It  is  true,  man 
may  deceive  himself  He  may  degrade  himself  so  low  that 
nothing  but  the  low  can  gratify  him.  He  may  mistake  the 
answers  of  his  own  mind  for  the  responses  of  spirits.  But 
he  knows  and  feels  his  self  deception  whenever  true  to  him- 
self. No  undeveloped  spirit  ever  intrudes  upon  those  who 
seek  Light  and  Hope.  This  is  the  message  we  have  from 
all,  and  we  have  never  met  with  an  exception.  Prattling 
innocence,  and  hoary  experience  testify  at  our  hearthstones, 
every  day,  and  under  every  variety  of  circumstances,  that, 
as  we,  arc  and  as  we  hecomc^  in  purity,  in  fiiithfulness,  in 
hope,  so  are  our  kindred  in  God  drawn  to  us,  to  still  further 
elevate  and  increase  our  powers,  both  to  bear  and  to  do,  to 
behold  and  to  testify.  "While  all  bring  the  inspiring  assu- 
rance that  this  Light  is  now  dawning  upon  the  hilltops  of 
every  land,  and  to  use  their  own  language,  "but  a  few  silent 
watches  of  the  night,  and  the  distant  dawn  will  proclaim  the 


14  SPIEITCOMMIJNION. 

epoch,  of  a  brighter  day,  to  fill  the  heart  with  joy  and  illume 
the  soul  with  a  resplendent  orb,  whose  penetrating  rays 
shall  give  life  and  vigor  to  the  parched  earth,  from  whence 
shall  spring  a  joyous  birth  of  gladness  that  shall  bind 
together  all  men  in  unison  to  their  great  end  in  God.  Its 
epoch  is  already  here."  From  ten  thousand  seeing,  hearing 
and  impressible  minds,  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and 
without  reference  to  any  partizan  views  of  religion,  govern- 
ment or  selfish  interest,  this  announcement  is  being  made, 
attended  with  a  weight  of  evidence  such  as  was  never  given 
to  any  fact  of  your  belief. 

We  tell  you  this  calmly — we  pass  by  all  outside  state- 
ments that  we  are  crazed,  are  fanatics,  or  selfish  schemers. 
We  leave  you  and  all  to  judge  of  the  justice  of  such  reflec- 
tions. We  live,  and  labor,  and  move  among  you,  and  you 
know  w^hether  it  be  true  or  false  ;  and  we  assure  you,  that 
such  charges  excite  us  not,  not  because  we  are  not  as  other 
men,  but  because  we  know  whereof  we  aflirm,  and  feel  that 
Truth  is  the  birth-right  of  man  from  his  God,  and  will  yet 
prevail  over  our  follies  and  yours,  and  that  it  is  our  mutual 
duty  to  prepare  to  receive  and  apply  it.  We  ask  of  you  no 
compensation  for  our  testimony,  whether  Spoken  or  printed. 
Gratuitously  we  print  and  circulate  what  we  receive  to  the 
extent  of  our  means,  and  in  some  instances  beyond  them. 
Not  one  cent  of  profit  has  any  Spiritualist  in  ISTashville, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  received  for  his  labor  or  ex- 
pense, in  speaking  or  publishing  in  this  cause.  Of  many 
in  other  places,  this  is  equally  true,  and  if  of  any  it  be  oth- 
erwise, we  know  it  not,  the  current  representations  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding.  And  we  ask  nothing.  Though 
poor  in  this  world  we  have  been  made  rich  in  the  evidences 
of  an  immortal  estate,  and  expect  to  sustain  ourselves  in 
temporal  matters  as  others,  esteeming  it  a  privilege  that 
amply  compensates  for  all  apparent  sacrifices,  (for  they  are 
but  apparent,)  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  elevating  the  hope 
of  a  common  brotherhood. 

'Nor,  can  we  promise  ourselves  any  exclusive  honor  or 
personal  elevation.  We  have  no  privilege  that  is  not  open 
to  all,  for  all  have  departed  ones  making  a  kindred  in  God. 


8  P  I  R  I  T    C  O  M  M  U  N  1  O  N  .  15 


We  have  no  attainment  that  greater  faitlil'uhiess  upon  your 
part  will  not  make  greater  to  you  than  ours  is  to  us.  And 
surely  to  be  feared  by  our  friends  whom  we  liave  loved  and 
served  with  uninterrupted  devotion;  to  be  held  in  doubt 
by  thousands  who  hear  of  us  as  demented  or  woi-se ;  to  bo 
watched  in  our  every  word  and  act;  surely,  surely,  this 
could  ofler  no  inducement  to  our  testimony.  And  yet,  we 
esteem  it  the  highest  honor  to  say,  that  a  Blessed  Light, 
which  shall  be  to  all  people,  is  now  dawning,  and  it^  evi- 
dences are  open  to  all,  while  not  made  necessarily  depend- 
ant upon  any.  Already,  consciously  or  unconsciously  to 
the  people,  it  influences  all  the  movements  of  the  age ;  con- 
trolling some — directing  others— affecting  all,  from  the  war 
in  the  Crimea,  to  the  humblest  efforts  of  the  lowliest  crea- 
ture of  God,  seeking  spiritual  light  and  help. 

Nor  do  we  abandon  any  honorable  avocation  for  thi:* 
privilege.  It  comes  from  the  God  who  made  us  to  eat, 
drink  and  sleep,  and  provide  for  our  natural  wants.  jS'ay, 
it  gives  us  holier  views  of  tlie  humblest  calling;  and  assigns 
our  natural  wants  and  duties  their  proper  place,  neither  en- 
grossing our  souls  nor  dwarfing  our  bodies.  Less  demands 
but  little,  and  our  animal  are  sure  to  be  our  lesser  wants. 
"As  nature  needs,  so  nature  feeds;"  and  through  our  spi- 
ritual being,  our  higher  nature,  it  gives  admonition  of  all  we 
need  for  ourselves  and  others.  Is  there  a  Spiritualist  of  your 
acquaintance,  I  mean  one  who  claims  to  have  daily  spiritual 
privileges,  whose  business,  family,  or  citizen  duties  show  the 
least  neglect?  Think  and  answer  for  yourselves,  before  you 
believe  the  false  tales  of  insanity,  etc.,  huckstered  to  the 
rabble.  Your  wise  men  predicted  we  would  all  be  insane  ; 
proposed  enlarging  your  asylum  for  our  benefit,  and  your 
foolish  men  believed  the  prediction,  and  are  astonished  that 
it  is  not  fulfilled.  Now,  tell  me,  did  you  ever  see  a  i)erson 
made  insane  by  Spiritualism?  Are  any  of  your  S])iritualist 
neighbors  in  any  sense  injured  by  this  privilege.  You  can- 
not point  to  one  either  here  or  elsewhere. 

Sj)iritual  life  reveals  the  sacredness  of  our  identity.  AVe 
are  taught  that  "  the  spirit  of  the  prophets  is  subject  to  the 
jjrophets.*'    AVe  too,  have  fears  for  the  sanity  of  any  medium 


16  SPIRITCOMMUNION. 

developed  through  inharmonious  relationships,  and  permit- 
ted to  attempt  to  gratify  the  unbounded  curiosity  of  idle 
and  superstitious  visitors.  We  have  seen  such,  and  feel  that 
we  have  prevented  most  terrible  results,  by  showing  them 
the  folly  of  attempting  to  gratify,  what  never  was  and  never 
can  be  gratified.  "We  must  say,  by  the  prerogative  granted 
to  every  man,  to  Spiritualism  as  to  every  other  great  fact, 
depart,  when  other  duties  and  responsibilities  claim  our 
attention.  We  cannot  control  the  rain  or  the  winds,  but  we 
can  build  our  shelters  and  adjust  our  sails.  No  man  will  be 
injured  by  spiritual  privileges  if  he  preserve  his  individu- 
ality ;  any  man  may  be  ruined  by  it  who  yields  it  even  to 
spirits.  It  is  the  wise  adaptation  and  application  of  any 
great  truth  that  leads  to  good  results.  Steam  is  not  respon- 
sible for  explosions,  but  engineers  are.  So  Spiritualism  is  not 
responsible  for  lunacy,  but  men  who  ignorantly  or  wilfully 
abuse  it  are ;  and  for  one,  I  desire  to  be  held  to  the  most 
strict  responsibility  for  any  evil  that  may  occur  under  my 
application  of  it,  but  not  for  any  other  man's. 

But  you  will  tell  me  that  the  light  of  Spiritualism  is  so 
obscure — so  much  mystery  connected  with  it — so  vague — so 
unsatisfactory.  Is  this  your  fault,  or  ours  ?  Or,  rather,  is 
this  our  fault,  or  that  of  spirit  monitors?  A  block  of  wood 
will  cast  its  shadow.  Should  human  minds  be  expected  to 
do  less  ?  Every  truth,  upon  every  subject,  shows  its  con- 
tacts with  the  channels  through  which  it  flows.  To  us,  the 
teaching  is  pure,  uniform,  and  opens,  as  our  minds  open  and 
our  practices  tally  in  virtuous  conduct  and  benevolent  aims. 
We  were  made  to  learn  /  not  to  pry  into  mysteries  to  boast 
of  our  attainments,  and  lord  it  over  some  less  favored 
brother.  Hence,  we  must  seek  in  the  Sjnrit,  if  we  would 
gain  of  the  Spirit ;  and  how  few  there  are  who  do  this  I 
"  Whatsoever  is  of  the  Spii'it  is  Spii-it." 

If  Spiritualism  were  what  many  foolishly  suppose  it  to  be 
— did  it  take  the  place  of  our  reason,  our  power  of  thought, 
or  judgment,  it  would,  indeed,  curse  us  with  insanity,  and 
doom  us  to  the  hopeless  ignorance  that  ever  fears  a  Devil, 
where,  a  higher  illumination,  would  worship  a  Grod.  Spirit- 
ualism is  a  revelation  of  a  law  of  God  in  man,  inscribed  by 


6  I'  I  It  I  T    O  O  M  M  U  N  I  O  N  .  1 ' 


an  angel  host,  and  its  disclosures  come  to  us  to  invio-orate, 
and  not  destroy  the  souls  we  hoar.  Purity  of  mirrd  and 
honesty  of  purpose  are  its  indispensable  conditions,  as  thev 
are  the  only  incentives  to  virtue.  Spiritualism  reveals  God 
in  all  things— the  Beginning,  Life,  End  of  all.  If  in  all,  iu 
^  us  by  the  Spirit  he  has  given  us ;  and  as  we  open,  purify 
•  and  elevate  that  Spirit,  it  finds  its  kindred  in  all  that  sur- 
rounds it,  and  its  infinite  relationship  to  those  cherished 
ones  that  are  ever  near  it.  We  may  behold  diversity,  then, 
but  no  contradiction.  Wg  may  have  endless  variety,  for 
the  life  and  destiny  of  man  is  various,  but  all  tends  to  the 
same  end — viz :  the  good  of  man  ! 

The  light  of  Heaven  is  not  less  pure  because  variously 
reflected  by  the  objects  of  sight  around.  Tiie  inscriptions  of 
Divine  wisdom  and  goodness  upon  the  Heavens  that  over- 
arch our  every  horizon,  are  not  less  perfect  because  man 
fails  to  see  the  glory  of  his  God,  imprinted  there.  Difterent 
degrees  of  capacity  and  circumstances,  reflect  from  the  same 
light,  different  impressions.  The  Temple  of  Freedom  may 
be  erected  in  the  brotherly  and  sisterly  regard  of  those  who 
have  passed  from  our  sight,  but  wc  may  fail  to  come  near 
enough  to  share  its  pure  light  and  undimmed  glory.  Wo 
should  rejoice  that  we  have,  iu  spiritual  approach,  a  light, 
which,  in  its  apparent  divergences,  adapts  itself  to  difleronr 
conditions  and  occupations.  Tliis  fact  may  reprove  our  sel- 
fishness, but  it  will  improve  our  spiritual  sympat]i3'.  ^'^i- 
pacity,  however,  will  not  always  measure  immortality;  "for 
the  day  is  not  distant  when  the  evidence  of  Spiritual  Com- 
munion will  be  as  plain  as  these  heavens,  and  jis  firm  as  this 
earth,  and  radiate  man  in  God !  " 

But,  saj'S  another,  "what  you  claim  is  miraculous,  and 
we  cannot  believe  in  miracles."  Nor  do  we  believe  i!i 
miracles  in  the  ordinary  and  philosophical  moaning  of  that 
word.  That  is,  we  do  not  believe  that  God  violates  his  own 
laws.  Nature,  in  its  principles  and  results,  is  of  God.  J'ut 
spirit,  with  us,  is  nature  also,  only  a  higher  form  than  the 
external  manifestations  usually  called  by  that  name.  Nature 
is  of  God,  and  therefore  perfect  for  all  the  ends  he  contem- 
plates. Its  laws  are  his  laws,  and  therefore,  whenever 
2 

460037 


18  SPIRITCOMMrsriON. 

we  define  miracle  to  be  a  violation  of  any  law  of  i!:^ature. 
our  definition  makes  it  a  violation  of  the  law  of  God — an 
absurdity.  For  if  God  be  perfect  in  working  as  in  purpose, 
the  whole  of  Xature,  as  his  work,  must  be  perfect.  Conse- 
quently, any  violation  implies  imperfection,  either  in  the 
one  or  the  other ;  and  our  minds  revolt  at  the  idea,  in  the 
exact  proportion  in  which  they  are  true  to  the  law  of  God 
written  within  us. 

But  the  lack  of  faith  in  a  miracle  as  a  violation  of  the  law 
of  God,  does  not,  necessaril}'^,  imply  or  produce  a  denial  of 
the  event,  or  fact,  called  miraculous.  It  depends  upon  its 
own  evidence,  and  our  faith  upon  the  knowledge  of,  and 
faithfulness  to  that  evidence.  Which,  simply  stated,  is, 
that  we  do  not  make  our  own  capacity,  or  that  of  others^ 
the  standard  of  Divine  operation — another  absurdity. 

What  are  called  miracles,  therefore,  may  have  been  per- 
formed— mav  have  disclosed  a  law  of  Nature  higher  than 
those  previously  recognized,  and  even  so  much  higher  as  to 
overbear,  or  take  the  place  of  some  inferior  method,  and 
yet  there  is  no  violation. 

Thus,  what  is  wonderful  to  one  degree  of  culture,  or  point 
of  observation,  may  be  miraculous  to  another;  and  what 
strikes  one  mind  as  a  disclosure  of  a  higher  law,  may  strike 
another  as  a  violation  of  a  lower  one.  The  true  or  false  con- 
ception is  the  result  or  lack  of  cultivation. 

If,  therefore,  Moses,  the  Prophets  and  Apostles  of  Israel, 
performed  miraculous  works,  or  were  made  the  instruments 
of  disclosures  and  powers  never  before  recognized,  it  was 
by  a  knowledge  of,  or  a  connection  with,  powers  of  God, 
( or  ligature,  if  we  prefer  an  inferior  name,)  higher  and  supe- 
rior to  those  previously  known.  Miracles,  then,  as  the  result 
of  a  higher  law  of  K'ature,  we  believe ;  but  miracles,  as  a 
violation  of  Xature,  we  deny,  and  do  so  with  a  confidence, 
which  is,  to  us,  the  highest  form  of  faith  in  God,  or  Divine 
perfection,  possible  to  our  minds.  And  we  would  modestly 
suo;ofest  that  this  distinction  meets  alike  the  difficulties  of 
the  honest  skeptic  and  the  conscientious  dogmatist. 

Allow  us  to  illustrate  :  It  was  a  miracle  of  wisdom  and 
power  to  a  North  American  Indian,  to  see  a  ship  moving 


p  r*  I  r.  T  T   r  o  M  ^r  T  X  T  o  N  .  1  •♦ 

over  the  waves  of  the  oceiiii  in  s;ilety,  ueiirin^  men  and  arji- 
mals  comfortably,  from  some  mikiiown  region,  to  his  native 
shores.  It  was  a  miracle  of  kindness  from  God,  and  of  skill 
in  man,  to  protluce  a  fiehl  «»f  waving  grain — to  reduce  it  to 
an  inviting  meal,  and  find  in  it  a  means  of  sustenance  and 
pleasure.  It  was  a  miracle  of  Propliecy  to  foretell  an 
eclipse,  and  the  fall  of  his  nations,  and  the  rise  of  another 
so  essentially  different  in  population,  arts  and  social  charac- 
teristics. But  were  these  miracles  to  a  cultivated  European? 
Were  they  not  the  result  of  a  knowledge  of  higher  powers 
of  the  same  Nature,  and  of  the  same  Divinit}^  in  Nature; 
and  especially  in  man,  as  its  noblest  external  manifestation? 
Unquestionably  so.  Just  so  the  wonders  of  the  Bible  record, 
so  far  as  they  are  accurately  recorded,  are  disclosures  of  a 
hiirher  law  than  that  known  or  used  bv  those  who  called 
them,  or  still  call  them,  miracles  in  the  sense  of  a  violatioTi 
of  law.  To  deny  a  prophecy  because  we  cannot  make  one, 
would  be  as  rational  as  it  would  have  been  in  the  Indian  to 
«leny  a  ship  because  he  could  not  constnict  one,  or  to  deny 
the  golden  harvest  because  ho  knew  not  the  laws  of  Nature 
or  mind  by  which  it  was  produced.  All  religionists,  of 
every  dogmatic  creed,  will  agree  with  us  here.  Can  they 
be  true  to  themselves  and  deny  what  follows?  To  worshij* 
the  man  who  performs  the  miracle  of  instantly  healing  tlie 
sick,  or  who  delivers  a  clear  and  unmistakable  prophecy,  or 
discloses  a  new  axiom  of  wisdom,  or  a  new  application  of 
an  old  one,  or  to  worship  the  miracle,  would  be  equally 
absurd,  and  would,  in  nothing,  essentially  differ  from  the 
Indian's  worship  of  the  ship  or  the  husbandman. 

God  is  in  all  things,  and  as  his  Divinity  opens  in  us  we 
see  his  power,  and  are  prepared  to  use  it  in  all  that  sur- 
rounds us.  In  the  plant  that  grows,  and  the  star  that  bums: 
in  the  food  that  sustains  and  the  medicine  that  relieves  life ; 
and  we  find  the  one  and  ap]troi>riato  the  other,  as  our  minds 
open  to  that  Spirit  of  all  AVisdom,  whose  dwelling  is  every- 
where ;  whose  confinement  is  nowht,ro. 

If  a  miracle  be  true,  and  I  believe  it  not,  it  is  easy  to  see 
where  the  difficulty  lies.  If  the  report  of  it  be  false,  and  I 
believe  it,  does  not  the  mistake  still  lie  in  me  ? 


20  SPIRITCOMMUNION. 

To  be  true  to  myself,  therefore,  is  to  be  true  to  all  tilings, 
as  I  come  in  contact  with  them,  and  they  with  me — is  to  be 
true  to  my  fellow  and  my  God. 

Let  me  not  say,  then,  I  believe  in  Christ  unless  I  do,  and 
let  me  not  hesitate  to  affirm  it  when  I  do,  and  to  what  extent, 
and  upon  what  evidence,  whenever  and  wherever  it  is  made 
my  clear  duty  to  avow  my  faith.  Now,  then,  at  this  moment, 
from  as  careful  an  examination  of  all  the  evidence  without 
me,  and  in  all  the  exercise  of  the  powers  within  me,  I  sol- 
emnly affirm  that  I  believe  in  the  Christ  that  dwelt  in  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  as  the  brightest  and  purest  manifestation  of 
Spirit  in  Humanity — that  it  was  of  God,  and  in  this  sense, 
was  God;  and  that  to  the  extent,  however  limited,  in  whicli 
the  spirit  of  any  human  being  opens  in  wisdom  and  love,  it 
is  also  of  God,  and  is  God — the  wisdom  is  God ;  and  its  pow- 
ers are  his  powers,  and  will  secure  as  great  and  greater  works, 
as  time  and  Providence  may  require ;  and  that  when  his  spi- 
rit shall  be  unfolded  in  all,  God  will  be  Christ  in  all,  and 
every  human  soul  feel  and  know  and  forever  rejoice  in  the 
ties  of  that  kindred  in  all,  which  is  God  manifest  in  human- 
ity— the  fullness  of  his  Spirit  filling  all  things.  And  so  may 
it  be;  and  may  we  grow  daily  to  receive  our  measure  in  the 
Divine  fullness !     Amen !  and  Amen ! ! 

If  we  believe,  then,  let  us  speak — if  we  believe  not,  our 
own  darkness  condemns  us,  and  in  every  serious  hour,  the 
immortal  instincts  of  our  nature  will  seek  for  Light  !  Be- 
neath the  radiations  of  Spiritual  Light,  we  will  yet  see  the 
broad  streamer  of  Life  Lnmortal,  waved  as  by  angel  hands, 
high  over  all  the  clouds  of  ignorance  and  injury. 

"  Aad  so  our  life  "will  flow 
From  its  mysterious  urn,  a  sacred  stream, 
In  whose  calm  depth  the  beautiful  and  pure 
Shall  yet  be  mirrored ;  then  when  shapes  of  ill 
Shall  hover  round  its  surface,  it  shall  glide  in  Light, 
And  take  no  shadow  from  them !  " 


THE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNL^ 

LOS  ANGELES 


Spirit 
coninunion5_ 


BF 
1291 

F38s 


3  1158  00095  2779 


^^m 


Univei 

Soi 

Li 


X^ 


^■ 


,..    J 


